Financial milestones that feel good

[scaredyclassic]

if I had a million in a 401k, id assume it would be half a million in 6 months. then id halve that aagin just to be safe. its hard to relax when you keep looking at the steep downside.

now i feel bad for derailing teh thread. its supposed to be milestones that feel good…

sorry about that.

i did feel good when we bought our house.

i do feel good paying my kids tuition out of pocket.

i feel good being able to pick upa check and it not mattering to me at all financially…

[Coronita]

[quote=AN]For some reason, I keep on thinking 7 figures is $10M+. Which is why I said what I said. You’re right, there are plenty of W2-er with 7 figures. I guess that’s what happen when you go to a states school. I don’t learn how to count in term of figures :-).[/quote]

See, that’s the just one more difference between going to a state college versus and ivy league college. We’re better with numbers. Us Ivy Leaguers are use to seeing and working with larger numbers….When it comes to paying tuition.

[scaredyclassic]

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/08/151970188/long-term-care-insurance-who-needs-it

arrggh. maybe longterm care insurance is a ripoff. best to just enoy whatever milestones we can and hope for the best … the only security is in the grave…

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=bobby]let’s see…
* first business & first check (never did frame that)
* first home (scared but felt good)
* first office building (happy to not have increasingly expensive rent)
* 7 figure net worth (never kept a close eye on this but found out when refinanced office building)
* first Ferrari (a childhood dream. the drive home was pretty sweet)
* paid off business loan (big smile that day)

I feel opposite of scaredy on student loan. I would never be in my financial situation without student loan.[/quote]

well…it can work out well…but it’s risky..

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=The-Shoveler]My main point is it is not a disaster if you don’t have a million saved for retirement.

My mother retired at 65, takes bus trips a few times a year (they sponsor them at her senior community), as well as the Hawaii trip.

The bus trips are very cheap (few hundred dollars for several day trip).

Yep I guess you can’t spend big, but from what I have seen most don’t anyway (maybe a few do), me I think I could be happy just walking on the beach a few times a week.

To each their own.

Once you hit 75-80 it is very very unlikely your going to be riding off road motorcycles etc…[/quote]

I agree that it’s more useful to have/spend money when you’re young. It’s a contradiction because most people don’t have money when they’re young.

Now that I’m older, I can’t think of much to spend on. Cars don’t do anything for me. I don’t want to travel and be a tourist anymore. When I travel now, I like to rent an apartment and see how local people live.

I don’t even want to eat out much. When I do, it’s more convenience when traveling than a treat.

[flyer]

Agree that it’s best to do the things you want to do in life while you’re young, if at all possible. We have over the years, and are glad we did. Life is short, and you never know what might happen in later years.

Now that we’re in our 50’s, even though we’re still actively involved in our professions, for us, the main value of financial security as we get older, is the ability to do what we want to do, or nothing at all, and knowing we should be good for the balance of our lives without running out of funds. That, along with being able to pass it onto the kids.

Imo, this is another discussion for which their is no right or wrong answer. Lifestyle decisions before or after retirement are all based on individual choices, but the one decision we all have in common is figuring out how to financially care for ourselves and our families from the beginning to the end of our lives.

[The-Shoveler]

IMO the retirement crisis is one of the most over hyped and untrue media hypes that has been occurring,

The Boomers are the most well prepared generation for retirement that there has ever been.

The the generation behind them will far exceed the boomers.

We’re On The Verge Of The Greatest Transfer Of Wealth In The History Of The World

The great transfer will see a handover of about $12 trillion from those born in 1920s and 30s to the boomers. But the boomers are expected to transfer some $30 trillion in assets to their heirs over the next 30-40 years in just the U.S.,

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-transfer-of-wealth-in-history-2014-6#ixzz3XfmwKOYH

http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-transfer-of-wealth-in-history-2014-6

[NotCranky]

Financial milestone, when kids turn 18 and I don’t have to spend a dime on them.

[flyer]

From what I’ve read, the “greatest transfer of wealth” is concentrated at the top–it’s not across the board–so it may occur for maybe 10% of the population at the max, but, that will not be the “norm,” for the other 90%.

In the very top tiers millions+ may transfer, but as you work your way down, averaged out, it amounts to a few hundred thousand at best.

I realize most of us “Piggs” are in those top tiers, but, for most, it just isn’t going to happen, and that’s why there’s concern about a “retirement crisis.”

edit: And this. . .

“It was revealed by one of the most authoritative sources comparing wealth-concentration in the various countries, (the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook, 2014) that in the U.S., 75.4% of all wealth is owned by the richest 10% of the people.”

[flyer]

Wealth Transfer? Boomers Banking on a Mirage
By Dan Kadl
TIMEBusiness

“Under-saved boomers have long believed that a tremendous generational transfer of wealth will save their retirement. Estimates have put the expected bequest from boomer parents at $10 trillion to $30 trillion. Well, don’t count on it.

Boomer parents continue to break the mold in terms of how long they live. Meanwhile, health care costs for those in old age are soaring, the recession zapped elders’ nest eggs, and with interest rates so low boomer parents don’t have the income they once projected—and are systematically spending down savings to maintain their lifestyle.

It all points to a disappointing final tally. The Wall Street Journal reports that among boomers, 56% now say they expect to receive less than $50,000. Just 5% expect more than $250,000. Allianz Life found that only one in five people past the age of 72 believe they have a duty to leave their kids money. So there won’t be a lot of game-changer inheritances in coming years.

This will come as a shock to some boomers, who at one point may have expected a retirement bailout from Mom and Dad. What they’re getting instead is a double-whammy: Not only is there little or no money in the parental till, but they are being asked to help the same parents that once looked like a golden goose. In some cases these parents not only need money, but boomer kids’ time as well as they require increasing levels of personal care giving.

“Thanks to medical gains, a 65-year-old man has a 60% chance of living to age 80 and a 40% chance of reaching 85. For women, the odds are 71% and 53%, respectively. All of this has made the 85-and-over age bracket the fastest-growing segment of the population.”

The Boston College Center for Retirement Research found that projected inheritances for baby boomers had fallen by 13%. The Center for the Study of Aging at Rand Corp., a nonprofit, found that individuals have reduced their wealth transfer expectations by 19%. Even the affluent are pulling back. Merrill Lynch found that among those with at least $250,000 in investible assets only 41% said preserving inheritances was a top concern.

Retirees without guaranteed lifetime income, and with interest rates so low that they have no safe means of investing for meaningful income, wind up exhausting their savings to make ends meet. One in three adults age 60-plus say they don’t feel prepared financially to live to 85; almost one in two say the same about living to 95, according to Northwestern Mutual Life.

This is the new normal–and it’s the face of a quiet crisis that will have a trickle-down effect on the inheritances of future generations as well.”

[The-Shoveler]

Baby Boomers Better Prepared for Retirement than Previous Generations
https://www.debt.org/2012/12/11/boomers-better-prepared-for-retirement-than-previous-generations/

That retirement crisis? Not so bad, after all

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/04/us-column-sternadvice-retire-idUSBRE9B30HL20131204

[bearishgurl]

Flyer, it doesn’t seem like you’re taking into account defined benefit pensions paid monthly to boomer-and-beyond households. The vast majority of the over-55 cohort that I’m acquainted with have at least one DB pension coming into the household. And about 3/4 of those households ALSO paid into Social Security (whether or not they are currently collecting any). With one or more DB pensions combined with SS paid to one or more persons of a household, certainly this is enough money for a 1-2 person household to live relatively comfortably and indefinitely …. especially if their primary residence is paid off.

I realize that most boomers came from families with 3-6 kids and that any inheritance from the last parent who died would likely be split up among the heirs which would account for smaller inheritances in a large portion of families (don’t know the percentage). This is assuming the last remaining parent didn’t use a lot of long term care or avail themselves of LT care on Medi-Cal in their final years (which would cause a MC lien to be placed on any real property they owned).

I just think these “doom and gloom” forecasts for retiring boomers are overhyped …. the writers aren’t really understanding how this massive population exists day to day with a good portion of them never withdrawing invested or saved $$ for monthly bills and necessities … esp those boomers who are still working (FT or PT) and are not yet eligible for SS.

flyer, I’m not sure where you are witnessing a lot of boomers who are unable to retire or unable to pay their bills. The only households I see around me who are “going broke” or “deeply in debt” are the ones who had too many kids who are all still minors and/or have parent(s) of minor children who have been unable to maintain steady employment over the years.

The boomers and seniors around here are doing just fine!

[flyer]

That’s good to know that some believe Boomers as a whole are better prepared than they have been in the past, but, imo, those numbers are still dismal for a comfortable retirement long term (depending on how you want to live) and, based on the small percentage of those with a high net worth, (stats reveal only about 8% of US households–of all ages, not just Boomers–have over a million in net worth, excluding primary residence) they are hardly predictive of a huge transfer of wealth among generations across the board.

Granted, as I mentioned before, 10% of us will do extremely well in retirement across all generations, but there is still concern, as a society, about the 90% who won’t.

I do think this will be a “silent crisis” for many reasons, so we may never really know the true outcome, but the stats speak for themselves.

[bobby]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=bobby]let’s see…
* first business & first check (never did frame that)
* first home (scared but felt good)
* first office building (happy to not have increasingly expensive rent)
* 7 figure net worth (never kept a close eye on this but found out when refinanced office building)
* first Ferrari (a childhood dream. the drive home was pretty sweet)
* paid off business loan (big smile that day)

I feel opposite of scaredy on student loan. I would never be in my financial situation without student loan.[/quote]

well…it can work out well…but it’s risky..[/quote]

depending on major but I don’t feel that certain major is risky at all.
engineering, physics, math, medicine. Graduates in these majors tend to have jobs and make over $100K/yr.
on the other hand, middle french poetry, while might be personally fulfilling, may be financially risky.

[flyer]

BG, I completely understand what you and TS are saying, and I’m just quoting the stats and what the experts are saying, so, I’ll just leave it
at–whatever works for each person is all that really matters!

[Author]

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